Beaches And Treehouses

In two days of writing, I’m somewhere over 5,000 words into my newest Big Lake mystery novel. I didn’t get anything done on it yesterday because we had some errands to run, but just because you’re running errands doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time, right?

Our first stop of the day was at the Volusia County tax assessor’s office in New Smyrna Beach. On Wednesday we received our property tax notice in the mail, and I wasn’t sure if they had included our Homestead exemption with it, since I couldn’t find it on the form.

I always like dealing with the people in the government offices around here because they are so different than many of the typical surly bureaucrats that I’ve encountered in other places.

The folks in the tax office and motor vehicle office have always been very friendly and happy to answer any questions or help in any way they can. And unlike so many government offices in other places we have been, we are always in and out in just a couple of minutes.

As it turned out, I just did not understand how to read the form correctly, but the nice lady at the counter explained it to me and I was good to go.

Our next up was at the bank to make a couple of deposits, and again we got a friendly greeting smile and the teller called me by name when we walked in the door. There’s a lot to be said for living in small towns.

Another good thing about living here is that we are so close to the beach. We haven’t been there since Hurricane Irma, and we had heard it was in pretty bad shape. So after we left the bank we drove a couple of blocks over to the beach to check it out.

A lot of the dunes have been torn up pretty badly, but otherwise it didn’t look too much the worse for wear. There were some piles of seaweed and other debris here and there that had washed up from the storm, but not nearly as much as we had expected to see. The pair of vertical white streaks to the left in the picture are not a rocket launch from nearby Cape Canaveral, they are just reflections in the car’s windshield.

 Ever since we bought our house here last year, we have talked about having dinner at Norwood’s Restaurant & Wine Shop, which most people simply call the Treehouse because it has a couple of elevated bars up in the branches of the huge live oak trees on the property. The actual dining rooms are on the ground floor, with a few tables outside under the trees. Yesterday seemed like a good time to check it out.

If you’ve been reading the blog for very long, you know that Terry and I, and our friend Jim Lewis all love seafood. I have to say that this is one of the best seafood places we’ve been to in a long time. I’ll go even further and say that the scallops I had with my dinner were the best I’ve ever had anywhere. Jim and Terry were just as pleased with their meals, and I’m sure we will be going back again.

Back at home, we had a quiet evening watching TV and relaxing. Just a nice, laid-back day. We need those once in a while.

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Thought For The Day – It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone. – Andy Rooney